Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of Drought.gov

 Drought To Start The Year:

As of December 20th or so, Waterloo Iowa was experiencing its driest December on record. That obviously changed when we got significant rains over Christmas. However; we aren't getting any snow (yet) and if we don't see rain by Spring, well..... 

Obviously that's going to make for a bad set-up for farmers, wildlife, and probably everyone living around here. From a gravel rider's standpoint, it may mean more of conditions like last year, and frankly, the year before that as well. Loose, deep gravel, lots of dust, and none of that classic "three-track" that we all love to ride on here. 

And then again by March we may be dealing with flooding. But not likely as this "El Niño" we are in now is said to be a pretty strong one and that usually means warmer than normal and sometimes not very much precipitation. With the base levels of water in the area at very critically low levels, it is going to take quite a wet spell to catch us up. 

Meanwhile I will try to enjoy what I am handed. A milder January may be just what I need to get a jump-start on mileage for 2024. We'll see.....

The new Velo Orange eccentric BB (Image courtesy of Velo Orange

A New Way To Create A Single Speed Device:

Got a traditionally threaded, 68mm/73mm bottom bracket shell on your bicycle? Want to make that bike a single speed? One of your options is from Velo Orange. For about a hundy, you can convert your bike to a single speed with this eccentric bottom bracket which supports any 2-piece, 24mm spindle cranks. 

The bottom bracket comes with a tensioniing tool as well, which is pretty cool. Unfortunately, at the time of this posting, the part is out of stock, but if you subscribe to Velo Orange's newsletter, you'll get notice when it comes back into stock. You can see more on this part HERE. 

Comments: Some folks give eccentrics a bad rap, but I've used a Wheels Manufacturing part similar to this and it works great. Use grease when installing, torque the part to spec, and it shouldn't make a peep. I don't need another single speed, but if I wanted to turn a vertical drop-out bike into a single speed and it had a traditionally threaded bottom bracket? Yeah, I would give this part a go. 

Also, having a drop out like that with an eccentric is, in my opinion, the very best way to have a single speed. Especially with a disc brake set-up. There are zero issues with resetting brakes, lining up the wheel in the frame, or moving swinging bits and locking them back down again. You just pop a QR and boom! Done and done. My OS Bikes Blackbuck MTB is like this and it is a joy to work on.

Alt Derailleur From Rivendell?

If you are a follower of Rivendell, or Grant Petersen, then you may have seen this prototype rear derailleur that Rivendell is working on. Called the OM-1, it is a "rapid-rise" design, meaning that the spring pulls the derailleur into the lowest gear, not the smallest cog/highest gear. Not like 99.9% of derailleurs you've ever seen. 

You can read the minimal amount of info out on this HERE, (Scroll down the page)

Comments: I've worked on a LOT of the old "Rapid Rise" rear derailleurs Shimano produced in the early 2000's. The high-end XT, LX, and such were rare. They didn't last long in the marketplace. But the Nexave, Altus, and CX-30 types were made a little longer, and in much higher production numbers. It was these derailleurs that I saw most often. 

I'll get this out of the way up front: I really don't like Rapid Rise. It was super-finicky to tune and you are working against gravity and friction, a pretty heady combo, when trying to dial in one of those Shimano variants. Additionally, the Nexave and definitely the CX-30 variants were inevitably corroded and and their parallelogram's pivots would have high friction. Sometimes so bad you'd have to replace the derailleur. 

Now, Grant and his team are probably well aware of all of that, but there is a LOT of "uphill battle" here, and I mean that in the best sort of way. I get that people are excited for a very versatile derailleur, but there are literally thousands of great 7,8,and 9 speed derailleurs floating around out there waiting for you. That and Shimano CUES, which is also 8,9,10, and 11 speed compatible all in one derailleur. (Don't "at me" with your pull ratio excuse. Use friction shifters!) 

So, with all of that, I wish Rivendell well in their tilting at windmills. I have a hard time seeing the point in this exercise, but maybe this trips your trigger? Good on ya.

Shimano Re-ups Rebound Virtual Gravel Challenge:

Last year, Shimano announced a virtual gravel event called "Rebound" which asked riders from all over the world to join in and ride gravel on June 3rd, 2023. The ask was simple and rides would be compiled on Strava. Here was the basic premise:

"In the spirit of Unbound, we encourage you to pick one of the following distances: 25 miles (40 km), 50 miles (80 km), 100 miles (160 km) or 200 miles (320 km). "

Well, Shimano wants to see if this can become even larger than last year and they are promoting the idea again for 2024. (See the site HERE) This year the ride is happening on June 1st.

Comments: You can read what I said about the idea last year HERE.  This year I feel the same, and I would join in on this but for the fact that I'll probably be in Emporia, or just back from there, that day. Otherwise, I'd love to participate in this. (Again, read my comments from last year as to why that is)

I guess my only other thought on this is a question: "Does this event happen without what we went through with the pandemic?" Virtual events were nearly unheard of previously to that, and certainly the whole idea of the "getting together of the gravel family" aspect did not lean toward a virtual event format. 

But I think Rebound exists because we had to do virtual events in 2020 and 2021 to some extent. We are more open to that concept, and it feeds the American mindset of independence and self-sufficiency which, I cannot say exists in the rest of the world, but for sure it does here. That is neither an indictment or supportive of self-support, independent riding, or virtual events, its just my observation. I just cannot help but think that without 2020-2021, rebound doesn't happen. 

Season 2 Has Started!

The Guitar Ted Podcast (GTP) has kicked off its second season already with a new episode sponsored by CORE4.

This time N.Y. Roll and I speak to the group etiquette and tactics which seem to be somewhat of a missing link in gravel circles and on some road group rides. 

I think we are pretty clear in saying we are not "The Experts". but we wanted to kick off a conversation regarding group ride technique so that information gets disseminated that may help someone avoid serious injury or death. We feel riding skills are important, and that some folks don't know, or haven't practiced those time-honored skills that make group riding safer and less stressful. 

You can find the podcast at THIS LINK or wherever you get your podcast feed from. Thanks to CORE4 for the sponsorship! 

That's a wrap for the first FN&V of 2024! Have a great weekend and thanks for reading G-Ted Productions!

Friday News And Views

It's The Last FN&V Of 2023!

My weekly post on Friday's which generally features three to five news and opinion related mini-posts in one has been going on for many years here on Guitar Ted Productions, but the format for the post idea actually wasn't always fixed to appearing on Fridays. 

There has been a "Monday News and Views" before and every day of the week as well has been used as a News and Views day. Somehow it settled in on Friday and well, there it has been ever since. You can read more about all that in a 2020 post I wrote called "The "FN&V" Story".

In terms of popularity, the FN&V is, generally speaking, the number one viewed post of most any week here. Of course, there are exceptions, which you saw with my "Top Ten Posts of 2023" which came out Wednesday.

This post also generates more views for a longer period of time than most anything else I do here with rare exceptions. So, I tend to put a lot of effort into the FN&V every week and I hope that you all enjoy reading it. Obviously, I will continue to use Friday's as the day for this post for 2024. 

Thanks, as always, for reading the FN&V and the rest of my posts here on Guitar Ted Productions!

The Guitar Ted Podcast To Resume Soon!

Just a gentle reminder that the "Guitar Ted Podcast" will be resuming recording here soon. N.Y. Roll has agreed to continue on as a co-host and is letting me use his "Stone Castle Estates" venue as a recording site. 

We have been brainstorming up some episode ideas, but we are always open to suggestions. If there is a burning desire for you to hear us pontificate on anything bicycle related, let me know in the comments or contact me as always at g.ted.productions@gmail.com. 

We decided to take a break during the Holiday season and recharge our batteries, so to speak, and we hope to have renewed energy and new ideas going forward into 2024. 

Until the next episode drops, consider hitting that link and listening in to any of our past episodes. If I may suggest a few, in no particular order, they would be:

• "The Ethos Of Gravel Events": A discussion of the fall-out post-Unbound Gravel 2023 and the culture of gravel events
• "End of the Age Of Gravel": A wide-ranging episode that speaks to where we are with gravel events/riding. There is also some good tips on cameras for gravel cyclists in this episode. 
• "Learning From A Beginner": My sentimental favorite episode of 2023. I had the privilege of interviewing Morgan Osgood, a "rookie" gravel rider. I was fascinated to hear her takes on what made gravel attractive to her, what she experienced at her first events, and what we, as seasoned gravel riders, should know about first-timers to gravel. This also happens to be our most popular interview from 2023. 
• "Goodbye Cross Check!": Of course, how could I not suggest our runaway number one listened to podcast episode for 2023? Obviously this is all about that venerable, recently discontinued, Surly Cross Check. 

If you have any downtime over the New Years holiday, maybe check into one of those suggested episodes or any of the other 35 episodes in Season #1 of the podcast. Stay tuned.... Season #2 will start soon. 

Job Report:

Allow me a moment to brag on my job at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective. Our social media volunteer put this graphic together a couple of weeks ago and I thought I'd share this on the last "FN&V" of 2023. 

The image tells the tale, mostly. We have two paid employees, (myself and Carl, my assistant), but the rodeos, valets, the bike ride, and all that was done by volunteers. 

I taught the classes and Carl and I did all the builds and sales work. It is a very rewarding job, and while the numbers may seem insignificant to some, we are making a big dent in this community in several ways. Plus, there are a lot more intangibles that a chart like the one shown here can never reflect. 

In 2024 I'm looking forward to making more of an impact on the Cedar Valley and beyond.There will (hopefully) be more classes, and making more confident cyclists who can handle simple in-field repairs and adjustments should go a long way toward that goal.

This job has cut two ways for me. on the one hand it has prevented me from doing events and it has really thrown a wrench in my scheduling of rides. On the other hand, it has been the most rewarding job I've ever had. Onward towards 2024!

 

The LeMond eBike with drop bars was one of several that appeared in 2023.

Trends Of 2023

I thought it would be fun to take stock of a few trends I noted in 2023 here before the year closes out. There were a few things that kept cropping up all throughout the year that I will make note of here. 

In no particular order:

•  Alternative drive trains: Everyone keeps pressing in to make an alternative to the "Two Big S's" component groups. We saw a lot of buzz around several Chinese manufactured gravel groups, but so far, they have been either panned by reviewers or haven't gained much ground yet on the popularity front. 
• Racing Bikes With Big Tire Clearances: Are they "gravel" bikes or something else? It's getting more and more common to see brands pushing road bikes that can clear 32mm -35mm tires. Tire sizes that only ten years ago were considered "gravel bike tires". 
• Gravel Bikes With MTB Tire Clearances: And - of course - gravel bikes have morphed into territory reserved for XC hard tail MTB's with tire clearances that are approaching 2.1"ers in many cases. Some sport slacker than ever head tube angles and longer top tubes than most road bike based gravel bikes ever did. Are these really drop bar MTB's? 
• More Electrified Gravel Bikes: It seemed there for a while that every week I had another new electrified drop bar gravel rig to share. There were plenty of them making their debut throughout 2023. 
• Boutique Adventure Bikes/Gear: The other thing I noted was the amount of new, small builder, chi-chi looking adventure/bikepacking rigs out there now. I guess a lot of this had been going on previous to my noting it, but Instagram is chock-full of this sort of thing to the point that memes are being generated mocking the trend. 
• Fatigue Over The Whole Gravel Thing: I have been making an observation throughout 2023 that I feel people growing tired of "everything gravel". There are so many "bucket-list" events, reasons to care about social initiatives at gravel events, influencers, Pros, and social media surrounding "gravel" now that it has all become white noise to many people. Too much is....well, too much! This is why I feel we are entering a "post-gravel" phase now and which will intensify throughout 2024. 

Those are but a few of the trends I noted in 2023. Got anything in mind I may have missed? Hit me up in the comments and tell me what it might be.

That's a wrap on the FN&V for 2023! See ya next year!